Tara Ison

Education
M.F.A. in Fiction & Literature
Bennington College

Biography

Tara Ison's (fiction) first novel, A Child out of Alcatraz (Faber & Faber, Inc.), was a Finalist for the 1997 Los Angeles Times Book Awards, "Best First Fiction." Her second novel, The List (Scribner), was published in 2007. Her short fiction, essays, poetry and book reviews have appeared in Tin House, The Kenyon Review, Nerve.com, Black Clock, The Mississippi Review, LA Weekly, and numerous journals and anthologies. She is also the co-writer of the cult film Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. She is the recipient of a 2008 NEA Creative Writing Fellowship and a 2008 COLA Individual Artist Grant, as well as multiple Yaddo fellowships, a Rotary Foundation Scholarship for International Study, a Brandeis National Women's Committee Award, a Thurber House Fiction Writer-in-Residence Fellowship, the Simon Blattner Fellowship from Northwestern University, and a California Arts Council Artists' Fellowship Award. Ison received her M.F.A. in Fiction & Literature from Bennington College. She has taught Fiction and Screenwriting at Washington University in St. Louis, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Goddard College, Antioch University, UC Riverside’s M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing, and Bennington College. She is currently Assistant Professor in Arizona State University’s creative writing program

I like to ask questions.   I scribble massive page notes on manuscripts as I read, and a good proportion of them are inquiries: How do you intend the reader to feel about this character right now?  Are you sure about this word?  Is this setting the reader up for a later revelation?  Whose POV is this?  What is your character thinking and feeling here?  Shouldn't this be 2 sentences?  and so on, to keep you aware of a careful reader's experience as she reads the work, but also, ideally, to keep you thinking and aware.  I'm delighted with work that pushes boundaries of style, that tries to break through barriers, that breaks rules - as long as each decision is ultimately a conscious and deliberate choice by the writer.  My hope is to help you develop that consciousness.

My pages notes are both text-focused and far-reaching, addressing a range of issues from grammar and word choice to character and scene development, theme, and overall story structure.   I'll also write a long letter, to expand on certain issues I've flagged in the text, and give you feedback from a more analytical, overall perspective.  I try to give the kind of feedback I would like to receive: specific and respectful, constructive yet critical.  It's important to discuss what's working and why, as well as what isn't.  I believe that a "rough draft," that liberating and inspired and messy eruption of words, is for the writer's eyes alone; as a teacher I would like "first draft" pages ( not "perfect" pages, I absolutely do not mean that), wherein the writer has already begun the process of moving from inspiration to intent.

I can't tell you what your story is - I can only add my perspective, to help you craft and hone your writing to a richer expression of the story you need to tell.  I have no interest in helping you write like anyone other than yourself - but I will try to push you to dig deeper, toward what scares you, toward the unique truth of the writing. 

Online conferencing:
My mentees will participate together in 2 conferences during the Project Period; each month all mentees will read one book in common (we'll select the books together during the Residency), and one mentee will be designated to lead an online discussion of that book in a Reading Conference.  In the Writing Conference, each mentee will be expected to post his/her own creative work at least once during the Project Period, and receive feedback from his/her fellow mentees.  I don't actively participate in conferences - they're for you to develop your own language and style of critical analysis -- but I do "monitor" them and read the postings.  (Otherwise, I'd miss out on too much - these conferences generally create fantastic and intriguing insights.)

Monthly packets:
I prefer receiving all work in hard copy, but I'll make exceptions for unusual circumstances.  Each monthly packet should include a maximum of 20 pp. total of fiction (double spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font or equivalent), either new work or revision (exceptions for final manuscripts, of course), and 2 or 3 annotations of 1-3 pp. each based on your reading.   My definition of an annotation: a critical yet subjective response to the writing - how do you, as a writer, think and feel about the writing of this other writer?  I ask mentees to read a minimum of 10 books a semester - we'll develop individualized reading lists during the Residency, but the list is a living, breathing thing that can certainly change over the course of the Project Period as we delve further into your own work.  Reading either the 5-p. critical papers or the 25-p. critical papers is a pleasure for me, and if you're working on one of those, that monthly packet makeup would probably change.  Sloppy work (spelling errors, typos, printer or Xerox glitches, etc.) makes me insane (and causes editors to reject manuscripts!); I expect students to take the time to submit work as professional in its presentation as is possible. 

We all have stuff going on in our lives, and during the Project Period I'm available for e-mailing and phone discussions, but primarily about logistical issues or clarification.  I'm flexible on many of the above details as long as communication is good, mentees are as responsible as I try to be, and I know that we're all aiming for the ultimate goal of the Program: to become better, more aware, more experienced, and more passionate writers.  And to enjoy the ride.

Publications
The List
A Child out of Alcatraz